The War in Vietnam has long been the source of anti-war and protest songs. From Bob Dylan to the Beatles, a number of notable music artists penned tunes that criticized the United States involvement in perhaps the least supported war by the American public. The following are a sampling of the some of the best anti-war/protest songs that were released during that era. You can find all of these songs in digital form on iTunes, Amazon.com and Google Play with the exception of the last two songs that are inexplicably unavailable on Google Play.

Imagine(1971) John Lennon’s solo masterpiece was more than just a song in protest of the Vietnam War, it was an emphasis for world peace to “imagine all people living life in peace” in a world without religion, countries, possessions, greed or hunger. The song is generally regarded as one of the greatest songs of all time and listed as #3 on Rolling Stone magazine’s 500 greatest songs of all time and listed on the Songs of the Century by the Recording Industry Association of America.

Blowing in the Wind (1963) – This song was written and recorded by a then 21-year-old Bob Dylan as the United States escalated their involvement in the Vietnam War. The song, which gained larger prominence when it was re-recorded by the folk trio, Peter, Paul and Mary, became one of the most famous protest songs to come out of the 60s as well as an anthem for the African-American Civil Rights Movement.

Born in the USA (1984) – The Bruce Springsteen single from the biggest selling album of 1985 was written to be a song about the troubles of a working class man forced into the Vietnam War but was largely considered to be a patriotic song. It was so popular that the Reagan administration asked to use it as part of the reelection campaign but Springsteen, a strong liberal, nixed the idea.

Give Peace a Chance (1969) – Recorded during the famous “Bed In” in Montreal, this John Lennon composition was another anthem to the anti-war movement and his first hit single after he left the Beatles. Although there is no mention of the Vietnam War in the lyrics, it was sung across the country during the Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam, which was one of many anti-war protests that swept the country during the 60s and 70s.

For What It’s Worth (1967) – Although this Buffalo Springfield hit was not meant to be an anti-war song, many listeners embraced it during the Vietnam War particularly with lyrics like “there’s battle lines being drawn, nobody’s right is everybody’s wrong, young people speaking their minds, getting so much resistance from behind.” The song, written by Stephen Stills who later gained enormous fame with Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, was inspired by clashes between police and young people in Hollywood, California, whose participants included actors Jack Nicholson and Peter Fonda.

War (What is It Good For?) (1969) – This intense Vietnam protest song by Edwin Starr and written by one of Mototown’s top composers, Norman Whitfield, says it loud and clear “war, yea, what is it good for – absolutely nothing!” It was a #1 hit in 1970 and was later performed by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band during their tour of 1985.

Eve of Destruction (1965) This song written by a 19-year-old P.F. Sloan, was made famous by Barry McGuire and contained the lyrics “you’re old enough to kill, but not for voting, you don’t believe in war, but what’s that gun you’re toting” and “you can bury your dead, but don’t leave a trace, hate your next door neighbor, but don’t forget to say grace.” It was the #1 song in America around the time the United States entered the war.

I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixing-to-Die-Rag (1967) – One of the most memorable moments of the Woodstock Music and Art Fair of 1969 was Country Joe MacDonald’s solo performance of this blatantly obvious anti-Vietnam War song with the chorus of “and it’s one, two, three what are we fighting for? Don’t ask me I don’t give a damn, next stop is Vietnam.”

The Unknown Soldier (1968) – This anti-war song was Jim Morrison and the Doors contribution to their opposition to the Vietnam War. The Unknown Soldier is likely in reference to the Tomb of the Unknowns military memorial at Arlington Cemetery and the song contained a sequence that resembles a military funeral honors ceremony complete with a firing party.

Orange Crush (1988) – This song by the alternative rock band R.E.M., who just split up last year, was in reference to the government’s use of the controversial herbicide known as Agent Orange to remove trees and dense foliage that the Viet Cong would use during the Vietnam War. Many diseases were later found to be associated with the herbicide including diabetes, heart disease, Parkinson’s, prostrate cancer and lung cancer.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Comment

Name *

Email *

Website

Toward an honest commemoration of the American War in Vietnam

Mission statement

The Full Disclosure campaign is a Veterans For Peace effort to speak truth to power and keep alive the antiwar perspective on the American war in Viet Nam — which is now approaching a series of 50th anniversary events. It represents a clear alternative to the Pentagon’s current efforts to sanitize and mythologize the Vietnam war and to thereby legitimize further unnecessary and destructive wars.

Sign Up for Updates

First Name

Last Name

Email address:

Leave this field empty if you're human:

50 Years of Resistance In & Out Of Uniform

Like Us on Facebook

On Burns/Novick PBS Documentary

Philip Jones Griffiths’ Viet Nam

This Month in History: 1969

February First trial of draft resistors known as the Buffalo 9. Around 150 University of Buffalo students and faculty picket the U.S. Courthouse, chanting “Free the Nine — The Trial’s a Crime”. Defendants argue that it was necessary to resist an “immoral, illegal, racist, politically insane war on the Vietnamese people.” Charges include assaulting federal officers, as well as draft evasion. The jury is unable to reach a verdict on several of the defendants but Bruce Beyer is convicted and receives a three-year sentence. Beyer later goes to Canada and then Sweden to help organize fellow resistors and deserters.

February Fort Gordon – Pfc. Dennis Davis editor of (the antiwar newspaper) Last Harass) is given an undesirable discharge.

February 14 The first three of 27 Gls charged with mutiny at the Presidio are found guilty and sentenced to 14, 15, and 16 years at hard labor by a court martial at the San Francisco Presidio stockade (see entry for October 14, 1968). By this time, three of those charged (Blake, Mather, and Pawlowski) had escaped to Canada. On appeal, the long sentences for mutiny were voided by the Court of Military Review in June 1970, and reduced to short sentences for willful disobedience of a superior officer. Rowland, for example, was released in 1970 after a year and a half imprisonment. See The Unlawful Concert by Fred Gardner for a fuller description of the case, as well as entry for October 14, 1968.

February 20 Tacoma – the Shelter Half coffee house’s business license is revoked. See October 1968 entry.

February 22-23 NLF attack 110 targets throughout South Vietnam, including Saigon.

February 25 36 U.S. Marines are killed by NVA (PAVN or VPA) who raid their base camp near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).

2016 National Book Award Finalist, Viet Thanh Nguyen:

“All wars are fought twice, the first time on the battlefield, the second time in memory . . . . Memory is haunted, not just by ghostly others but by the horrors we have done, seen, and condoned, or by the unspeakable things from which we have profited.”